Networked territorialism: the routes and roots of organised crime

Clark, A., Fraser, A. and Hamilton-Smith, N. (2021) Networked territorialism: the routes and roots of organised crime. Trends in Organized Crime, 24(2), pp. 246-262. (doi: 10.1007/s12117-020-09393-9)

Abstract

In the digital age, space has become increasingly structured by the circuitry of global capital, communications and commodities. This ‘network society’ splinters and fragments territorial space according to the hidden logic of networked global capital; with successful criminal entrepreneurs connecting bases in low-risk, controllable territories with high-profit markets. Drawing on a recent, large-scale study of organised crime in Scotland, in this paper we elaborate the relationship between place, territory and criminal markets in two contrasting communities. The first is an urban neighbourhood with a longstanding organised crime footprint, where recognised local criminal groups have established deep roots. The second is a rural community with a negligible organised crime footprint, where the drug economy is serviced by a mobile criminal network based in England. Through comparison of the historical roots and contemporary routes of these criminal markets, we note both similarity and difference. While both communities demonstrated evidence of ‘networked territorialism’, key differences related to historical and social antecedents, in particular the impact of deindustrialisation.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Fraser, Professor Alistair
• Authors: Clark, A., Fraser, A., and Hamilton-Smith, N.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: Trends in Organized Crime
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 1084-4791
• ISSN (Online): 1936-4830
• Published Online: 21 October 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Trends in Organized Crime 24(2): 246-262
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License